Even in the best times, long -term observations can be very fragile. It is difficult to convince financial agencies to put money into long -term observations because, definitely, they are sequels; They were made before. Most financial entities, from scientific agencies to philanthropic organizations, want to be associated with exciting, innovative work, and ongoing observations are too routine to scrape that itch. (Dave Keeling Records in his autobiography, Rewards and penalties of monitoring the earthThat at one point in the National Director of Science Foundation, in order to maintain funding, he should generate two discoveries a year from his record of carbon dioxide.)
Another vulnerability stems from the fact that the community of researchers making ongoing measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide are likely to count less than 30. Graduate students interested in learning this arcane work is a rare business. Patience and attention to details are needed, and years are required to accumulate enough data to answer the key questions or make innovative discoveries. Researchers must be extremely dedicated and exact to ensure that measurements in 1958 are comparable to those today. Calibration is an endless task. This scientific search is not for everyone.
In perverse, while the Keeling bend has reached iconic global importance, this can actually prevent, instead of helping the financial situation. Environmental programs tend to be organized by geographical domain and discipline – the national water -invalid program of the US Geological Survey, the NSF Arctic Observation Network, and the US Forest Service, for example. In these focus efforts, the big image may be lost. As the field of climate change has evolved, we have found more and more difficult to find sponsors who accept responsibility for measuring essential signs of the Earth as a whole.
Mauna Loa’s original measures were initiated during the international geophysical year in 1957/1958. This was a massive, remarkable effort, led by the United States and including 67 countries, with the target (simply set) to measure every physical attribute possible on Earth in one year. It has led to numerous, major scientific discoveries and establishment of many measurement programs worldwide. It has established the South Polish Station, for example, a home for essential climate research, which is still running today. It was a time of enormous optimism, international cooperation (even during the height of the Cold War), of vast dreams, of global cooperation. And the United States was proud to guide the road.
This sense of endeavor continued in the 1970s, when then President Richard Nixon – a conservative Republican – established NOAA to better understand the world’s oceans and an atmosphere. By the 1980s, the NOAA had grown in size, along with the Scripps expense, to become the beating heart of global climate science. Now, after only three short months of the Trump administration, we contemplate the abdication of US leadership in ocean and atmospheric science and the loss of the largest and most critical observation network for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and their gauge laboratories.
Our colleagues at NOAA live daily, not sure if tomorrow will be their last at work. We pray that a common sense will prevail and that NOAA will be saved the worst. Whatever its fate, we will remain in the battle to maintain the world’s ability to measure levels of carbon dioxide with whatever support we can mix, a small swelling against the new dark age of climate science.
